London 2012: Olympic bell made in Holland

A giant bell at the centrepiece of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony is
being made in Holland, it emerged yesterday.

The Whitechapel foundry has an illustrious history that includes making the bell for Big Ben: A Westminster engineer replaces one of the rubber hammers on one of the quarter bells of Big BenPhoto: GETTY

By Anita Singh

6:35AM BST 20 Apr 2012

The bell will ring to mark the beginning of the £27 million show on July 27. At two metres tall and three metres wide, weighing 23 tonnes, it will be the largest in Europe.

The ceremony is designed to celebrate the best of British and a global audience of one billion is expected to tune in. Yet organisers awarded the bell commission to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in east London, which has sub-contracted the task to a Dutch manufacturer.

The firm’s own foundry does not have the capacity to make such a large bell.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) rejected the opportunity to have the bell made in Britain.

Locog asked Taylor’s Bell Foundry in Loughborough, Leics, to give a quote for the job.

Richard Grimmett, Taylor’s acting managing director, said: “We were approached last August and provided a quote, but then got the impression that the idea had been dropped.

“So it was a great surprise when we heard that a bell was being cast. Through our contacts we discovered it was being cast in a Dutch bell foundry.

“It is the British Olympics but the bell is being cast by a foreign company in a foreign country. It does not make sense to me.”

Taylor’s has a proud history in bell-making: the firm produced the Great Paul bell for St Paul’s Cathedral in 1881 and the Great Peter bell for York Minster.

The company went into administration in 2009 but was saved by bell enthusiasts, including former staff.

Mr Grimmett said: “We feel very disgruntled. Given the state of the economy at the moment, a contract of this nature would have given us the opportunity to lift the industry in this country, refresh our materials, employ more people and put us on a finer footing for the next few years.”

Nicky Morgan, MP for Loughborough, criticised the decision and pointed to Loughborough’s strong Olympic links. Loughborough University is the pre-Games base for Team GB. “I am disappointed. Taylor’s is a fantastic company,” Miss Morgan said.

A Locog spokesman said: “The experts at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry chose the best way possible to produce such a large bell.”

The Whitechapel foundry also has an illustrious history that includes making the bell for Big Ben.

Kathryn Hughes, director of the firm, said: “Yes, the bell is being cast elsewhere because we don’t have the capacity, as this is three or four times the size of the bells we usually make.

“But it’s our design, our profile, our lettering, and the same logo we have used since 1570. The only bit being done abroad is the pouring of the metal.

"We’re incredibly excited to be part of the ceremony and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, just as Big Ben was for our predecessors.”

The opening ceremony is the brainchild of artistic director Danny Boyle, the film-maker behind Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting.

His ‘Isles of Wonder’ theme for the ceremony is inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the bell will be inscribed with a line from the play: “Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises.”